David Whitt

This was an ER book I was excited to receive. However, I was disappointed in the execution. This is a collection of chapters that read as if written for scholarly journals--which they probably were. Except for the first article, there was a heavy emphasis on films rather than literature or games. Rather than a broad discussion of the issues, themes and myth, a narrow focus is taken in most of the articles, such as one might see in a master's thesis or a doctoral dissertation. It is further show more spoiled by grammatical errors, such as "evil...need". "the Witch's demise is brought about by Dorothy's desire to undue (sic) evil actions." "She places the hate (hat) in front of..." These are especially grating given the scholarly pretensions of the articles.

In summary, while these articles may have great interest for scholars in the field of literature, they have limited interest for the general science fiction fan and/or mythology buff. While it is somewhat interesting to see the examples of how Rowling systematically uses the colors green and red to cue important events (except where she didn't) or to analyze the movie Pan's Labyrinth so that I don't ever have to watch it (thankfully given the violence described), how the remake of The Planet of the Apes didn't tie into the same mythic hooks that the original version did, the sexism in the game Second Life, or analysis of the cyborg in the manga Man-Machine Interface, the chapter contrasting the book version of The Wizard of Oz, the movie version, Maguire's book Wicked, and the musical "Wicked" was the broadest in scope and the most interesting, although unfortunately the one with the most print errors. Unless you are developing a thesis in this area, you can probably skip this one. show less

Millennial Mythmaking (Essays on the power of science fiction and fantasy literature, films and games)

My first thought about this book is that the subtitle needs to be rearranged. Roughly two thirds of this book was about film, with some references to literature, television, games, and Broadway. I was expecting more SF & F literature content. I was also a bit surprised that exploration of the SF & F genre seems to focus on more mainstream examples.

There are nine essays discussing the show more current use of the hero myth, and how it has changed over time. They talk about how traditional role of the hero, being a noble young man, has evolved; some heroes are elderly, some heroes are women, some heroes are even villains. They also discuss how the genre of SF & F is building on, or remaking old standards.

The specific myths discussed are: The Harry Potter series, “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” vs. “Wicked”, “Planet of the Apes”: original movie vs. remake, “Spirited Away”, “The Triplets of Belleville”, “Pan’s Labyrinth”, How does using actors from “Star Trek” & “Doctor Who” effect the mythos of the “Heroes” series?, Women’s roles in “Second Life”, and cyborg mythology in “Ghost in the Shell”.

My experience was that the weakest of the essays was first, but that successive essays made stronger and more significant arguments, some of the essays gave me quite a bit to think about. This is not a book meant to be read from cover-to-cover in my opinion, it is a sampler.

Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book for review show less

A collection of analytical essays on various science fiction and fantasy pop culture works. As the title might imply, the editors view science fiction and fantasy as a sort of modern myth, which is something that I more or less agree with. They are also apparently great fans of Joseph Cambell's ideas about the archetypal hero's journey, a fact with made me feel slightly wary going in. I have nothing whatsoever against Campbell, but it does occur to me that there is the possibility of his show more conception of the heroic narrative becoming the hammer that makes every story look like a nail. Fortunately, I don't think this really becomes a problem here. The three essays that explicitly deal with stories in Campbellian terms, interestingly, all involve female protagonists (two little girls, in fact, in Spirited Away and Pan's Labyrinth and an elderly woman in The Triplets of Belleville), and all three touch on the idea that Cambell's conception of things is a bit limited by its rather male-oriented nature.

Other essays feature topics such as the way the original Planet of the Apes movie works on multiple levels and why the 2001 remake was less successful on that score, and a discussion of the way recognizing actors from other roles influences audiences' reactions and how shows such as Heroes deliberately make use of that. I don't think any of these essays really displays any great depth or stunning insight, but almost all of them had at least some features of interest. The one about the resonance of actors' other roles, for example, described a phenomenon that was already completely familiar to me, but I'd never seen it spelled out explicitly before, and that's probably worth doing.

One piece that I found simultaneously interesting and rather unsatisfying was the one which examined the character of the Wicked Witch of the West as she became more purely evil in the transition from book to movie, only to be reinvented later as a much more morally complex character in Gregory Maguire's Wicked before becoming almost entirely good in the musical version. The authors of that one seem to want to make the point that a more shades-of-gray conceptualization of villains is increasingly useful and desirable in the complicated modern world, and I find that thesis fascinating. But one ambiguous example really doesn't serve to either prove or elucidate that idea, and it's one that really needs to be explored at much greater length. (And hopefully with somewhat less heavy-handed political commentary than appears in that particular essay.)

There was only one offering here that I actively disliked: the first essay in the book, on color symbolism in the Harry Potter novels, which was a classic piece of pointless over-analysis if I've ever seen one. (And I say that as someone who can over-analyze with the best of them.) I also had some issues with the essay on women and gender in Second Life, which ultimately made some fairly important points, but came close to burying them in an avalanche of irritating rhetoric.

The bottom line: I wouldn't call this a must-read by any stretch of the imagination. But if this sort of thing appeals to you -- and we're certainly talking about something aimed at a niche audience here -- it's not bad. It's probably only worthwhile if you're familiar with most or all of the works under discussion, though. show less

I enjoy critical essays on subjects I love, yet this book touched on several topics I wasn't all that familiar with. It starts off with an essay on Harry Potter. I read the first volume aloud to my children and found myself daydreaming often as the nights wore on. It's also a family joke about how I fall asleep during the Potter movies. But I found myself fascinated by the subject within this essay on color choices within the books. Now I will have to read the first book again, and go show more through the others. The authors definitely got me interested in the boy wizard.

I've always liked the Oz stories, and have read a few of the books, besides seeing the original movie and Return to Oz, which is a closer rendition of the written stories. But after reading the essay focusing on the Wicked Witch, as portrayed in the book and show "Wicked," I do feel I will stick with the original. Although the writers seemed to appreciate this deviation from the source material, I could tell I wouldn't like it. So this book at least kept me away from something I had been considering as a future read.

The next essay focused in on The Planet of the Apes. I'm an apes fan, and have been for many a decade. This essay was interesting and I'm glad I had the opportunity to read it.

Following that we get some in-depth detail on Spirited Away. This was worthwhile reading, as I'm also a fan of Miyazaki. Based on the Potter, Apes, and Spirited Away essays, this volume was worth it; not to mention the fact that I can gladly skip reading Wicked.

The Triplets of Belleville was a film completely unfamiliar to me, but the essay on it was interesting enough that I may have to catch it sometime. The article on Pan's Labyrinth was fascinating. It's one of those movies on my "must" list, and it moved up the chart after reading about it.

While the article on actors and their mythic heroes was entertaining at times, and infused some nice humor, I found myself let down with the portions on William Shatner. I don't really know what I was expecting, but I couldn't read it fast enough to get past it. On the other hand, this did make me interested in Doctor Who, which I've never viewed.

The last two essays, on Second Life and Ghost in the Shell, didn't mean much to me. I have experienced neither, and have no desire to. This helped confirm it. But for those who do love virtual reality in Second Life and fans of GITS, I'm sure they would appreciate these articles.

A book such as this will rarely have complete appeal for readers, as many of us haven't experienced all this contains. However, on the whole, this was a worthwhile reading experience and I look forward to reading more of these types of works that McFarland produces. show less